Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV Invests $261,000 in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $261,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MS. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 10.9% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 256,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,755,000 after purchasing an additional 25,179 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter worth about $609,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 9.8% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 112,793 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,758,000 after acquiring an additional 10,107 shares during the last quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 4,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $456,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. UBS Group increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. HSBC lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $140.66 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $226.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.71, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $131.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $118.93. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $84.43 and a 1 year high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.60%.

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley, a financial holding company, provides various financial products and services to corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. It operates through Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management segments.